I’m going to make a big batch of cupcakes for another party next week. if i bake them and frost in the early morning, will they be fine sitting out all day or in a closed box until the evening. All of rose’s recipes instruct to wrap cakes airtight. will they stay moist for a day sitting out frosted? Would using an oil and butter combination help extend the time the cake stays moist. I know oil is great for moistening a cake, but butter has better flavor so I would think of doing half and half.

they will be fine! i’ve made cupcakes a day ahead (frosted cupcakes) and they were just as good as if they were made that day. From the tips I got from people on the site, I wrapped my cake box in a garbage bag to help the freshness.

Yep, the cupcakes will be fine. As long as they are not cream cheese frosting (which if you are using a Rose recipe, probably not) they will be fine sitting out in a box. I have left cupcakes out at room temp, covered (but not necessarily airtight), for up to a day, and they are always good. I like the idea of wrapping a garbage bag around a large bakery box, for extra insurance. I would be careful about leaving the garbage-bage-wrapped box in direct sunlight though, since it would magnify the heat a bit.

My favorite way to keep cupcakes fresh and transport them is the Cupcake Courier, which is attractive, airtight and extremely sturdy (holds 36 cupcakes).
It works perfectly unless the icing and/or decorations are very tall (1.5-2” or more) another plus is that the cupcake trays are removable so you can use it for a a layer cake or pie as well.

If there are tall decorations, or I need to be able to drop off disposable boxes, nothing beats these sturdy clamshell muffin trays (I get them from my local baking supply store).

I recently started a side business selling baked goods and have an order for red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for Thanksgiving. My client insists that I not deliver them to her on Thanksgiving as she lives aways away. She wants to meet me at my office on Wednesday to get the cupcakes. If I wake up very early before work on Wednesday and make the cupcakes, bring them to my office in a box, and have them on my desk all day and then give them to her about 5pm, will they still be good when her guests eat them on Thursday? I would much prefer to bring them to her on Thursday but she is completely against that.

As for the frosting, the cream cheese needs to be refrigerated during the day at your work and then overnight at your customer’s house. If you don’t have refrigeration, consider the vanilla mousseline instead of the cream cheese. With either frosting, your customer should bring them up to room temp before serving.

As for the cupcakes themselves, perhaps you could put them in foil liners and frost them out to the edges to help seal in moisture (as mentioned above). And wrap the box well. In my experience, cupcakes are almost never as good on day two as they are on day one, but they should still be OK.

Thanks so much for your help Julie! Hopefully I can convince my client to change her thoughts on delivery. I would hate for her to have less than fresh cupcakes simply because she doesn’t want to inconvenience me!

You were so helpful about my cupcake storage question I thought I’d try you again… I am on my third red velvet cupcake recipe and just can’t find one I am thrilled with. The first two have been ok but not great and I don’t want to sell someone something I am 100% happy with. I am starting to think maybe I just don’t know what really good red velvet tastes like. Any thoughts?